Lincoln hadn't envisioned today's mission ending like this, with him and half of his sisters having to board a bus to get back home because Lori and the rest ran off with some rich kid who came out of nowhere to offer them a stay at a five-star hotel. He had thought about the benefits of this random turn of events, hanging out with a rich kid and being kept away from their home could be considered a huge stroke of luck that could make his job a lot easier for the rest of the week and keep his sisters occupied until a certain dreaded date had passed, since there were only five days left.

If only they were in the care of a more trustworthy person. Lincoln contemplated a lot about how trustworthy Kathleen was? He did not know her personally, yet she seemed quite genuine with her apparent regret over her past actions. "If someone like Ryan can "reform", why not Kathleen?" Lincoln thought.

But he also knew that appearances could be deceiving. But what exactly would she gain by playing host to his family outside of creating good PR for herself? Surely there were plenty of other options for her. Did she merely want to see Luan in pain by manipulating her own family into turning their backs on her? That seemed awfully petty, yet according to both Luan and Lynn that was perfectly in-character for Kathleen?

He was frustrated by his inability to pass judgment, as he was grossly out of the loop. He was worried about leaving his sisters behind at that hotel; though he knew how silly his worries seemed. Kathleen may be a bully but she wouldn't cause them serious harm, right? But then again, a certain bully called Lyle had proven him otherwise in another timeline. People can surprise you with their capacity for cruelty. Lynn and Luan defiantly shared his sentiment, minus any doubt that Kathleen was up to something, but both were mad enough at their sisters to willingly leave them to their fate should their host have ulterior motives.

This fight certainly wouldn't improve the already strained relationship between the sisters. Oh, who was he kidding, it had driven a huge wedge between them that likely won't recover in the foreseeable future, especially not with egos like Lori or Lola. To say nothing of last night's fiasco, Lincoln still didn't want to even think about Lisa, his anger towards her was too fresh. He was still shaken from the whole ordeal but did his best to hide it and focus on the here and now.

The white-haired boy took a passing glance at the forest they sped by, thinking about their missing pets. They had no idea about their current whereabouts. For all they knew, Walt, Geo and Charles could all be dead. It was a heart-wrenching thing to consider, but Lincoln tried not to think about it for the moment, mentioning their absence would probably just rub salt in the wound for the person sitting next to him.

Luan had been eerily quiet ever since they boarded, so Lincoln tried to strike up a conversation with the glum comedian. "So, Luan? What do you want to do once we get back home?" he asked idly.

Luan sighed. "I dunno, look for more Laurel and Hardy bloopers online? I really don't care." Her tone was tired and spiritless, she just seemed done. Done with everything.

"We could do something together?" Lincoln suggested.

"I don't feel like socializing today…." Luan muttered, looking away.

"Luan, I know you're upset but locking yourself up won't help you feel better." Her brother told her gently. "C'mon, I have no plans for today. Hanging out with you sounds better than spending my day answering the three hundred fifty seven messages Clyde sent me."

"Are you pulling my leg?" Lynn snorted incredulously as she leaned above Luan's seat. "We left just before noon, not even Lori could text that much in such a short time span? Does he seriously have nothing better to do?" she asked, despite knowing that this was a stupid question.

"Lynn, give him some slack. He just gets nervous when he doesn't know about my exact whereabouts." Lincoln tried to defend him, but shrank a bit under the jock's amused "are you freaking serious?" stare.

"He sounds pretty possessive of you?" Lynn responded, still amused if not a bit creeped out.

"Well, he's…eh…...he's a special case."

"Yeah, he's a special case alright." Ryan quipped in a conceited tone, appearing above Lincoln.

"I'll give him props." Lynn shrugged humorously. "I've got nothing on him when it comes to speed texting."

Before Lincoln could retort, Ryan spoke to Luan. "Hey, Lu? I think the little guy has a point. Lynn said that we should do something fun together. Summer's not the time to mope around."

Ignoring the remark, Lincoln nodded in agreement. "Yes, sis, I know you're feeling upset so we want to help you turn that frown upside down."

Luan sighed. They were trying to help her, they sincerely were. She was beginning to feel selfish again for brushing away their efforts to give her support. She realized that she had no other choice but to tell them what was truly bothering her, as hard as it was.

"Why did they stay there? Our sisters?" she mumbled sadly. The others looked at each other worriedly.

"Because they were offered a chance to stay at a fancy hotel, what do ya think?" Ryan told her bluntly but sympathetically.

"I know that…but…but…why did they stay with her?" Luan replied with repressed resentment. "They knew what she did to me, but they still…."

"Luan, chill. It's not like everyone betrayed you?" Lynn spoke up, as usual not having a lot of tact when it came to sensitivity. "It was only four of them, Lisa and Luna weren't even there." She pointed out, hoping it would make things better.

"Yes, they weren't there." Lincoln agreed. "Plus, the twins are only five; you can't blame a bunch of little kids for getting bewitched by an expensive playground. And Leni's well…..eh…. she's Leni."

"The most devious of them all." Ryan snarked inwardly.

Lynn had to begrudgingly agree there. The twins' were still young and naïve (and in Lola's case spoiled) and Leni was not the brightest bulb in the shack. That gave her and Lincoln some hope that certain bonds could be mended. Lori, on the other hand, had no excuse besides plain old greed.

"I know they're still mad at me about….you know…..but I didn't think they were this…" Luan continued on. "I know they're angry but I still thought they would have my back in a situation like this."

"Blood's unfortunately not thicker than water, that's life." Ryan said poignantly, causing Luan to stare at him in disbelief.

He sighed in resignation. "Listen to someone who knows. Remember my sister? The one Lynn brought up?"

"Eh…yes? What about her?"

"Me and her never were on good terms." Ryan shrugged. "She makes it no secret that she can't stand me and that I'm an embarrassment to her. And I honestly don't know if she would have my back if shit got serious."

Lynn remained quiet, knowing what he was talking about, and Luan grew a look of shock.

Lincoln studied the other boy, not knowing what to make of his claim. As usual, Ryan sounded like he didn't care but Lincoln thought that (for a moment) there was a hint of sadness in his tone. Unfortunately, like with Kathleen, he didn't know Renee nearly enough to judge the validity of Ryan's claim.

"Ryan, I'm not gonna pretend like I know your sister better than you-"

"Of course you don't, you only met her for five minutes." Ryan snipped.

"I know, but I think you're being a bit melodramatic." Lincoln replied evenly.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ryan cocked an eyebrow.

"I'm referring to my sisters. Please, just don't put words into other peoples' mouths. When the girls get back home, we'll….eh…have a serious talk with them-."

Lynn groaned. "Guys, let's just forget about those back-stabbers for now? It's summer; we'll have plenty of time to call them out on their crap later. How about we just help Luan clear her head? Things got too emotional back at the hotel."

"Good idea, I hate it when things get too heavy." Ryan shrugged.

"That's my point. Sometimes when you get battered on the field, it's best to just sit down for a bit and let the bruises heal before you get back into the game."

"Lynn's right." Lincoln nodded. "You've been wronged, Luan. We all know that." He told his comedic sister sympathetically. "But we're here for you. And we want to help you. If you'll just let us?"

Luan shrank back, still feeling guilty about everything. "I guess I could….." she stopped and sighed. "Thanks, guys, for sticking up for me."

"It's nothing, sis." Lincoln tried to cast an encouraging smile.

Luan's lip trembled and she pulled him into a tight embrace. "Oh, Linky. I don't deserve a brother like you." She said feebly and planted a kiss on his cheek.

Lincoln blushed with embarrassment. "Luan, please. Not in front of Ryan."

"I'll say." Ryan snorted. "Don't I deserve a kiss for my support?" His remark immediately earned him a painful slug to his flank from an enraged Lynn.

"End Lynn?" the comedian turned to the jock, looking like she was struggling to say what she wanted to say. "Eh…..sorry about making you slip, and…..y'know…..being mean to you." She rubbed her neck.

Lynn rolled her eyes, as much as Luan got on her nerves these last view days, she still pitied her when she was like that. Seeing her go all sad clown was just hard to watch. Luan had apologized to her, so the least she could do was return the gesture.

"It's cool….eh sorry I K-O-ed you…..and knocked you down….and made fun of your teeth…..and…..y'know….tried to pummel you for making me slip." She replied just as uncomfortably.

"Pummel her?" Lincoln studied them carefully, growing worried. He was certain this truce wouldn't last long, not as long as Ryan was with them. He dreaded having to confront this topic but it became clear to him that he could no longer put a pin on it. The longer this love triangle nonsense kept going the messier the end result was inevitably going to be. He had to put the kibosh on this as fast as possible. He and Lynn needed to have a serious talk. But this wasn't the time for it.

"It's nothing." Luan sighed. "I guess I deserved the K-O-ing."

"So what do you want to do, Luan?" Lincoln asked, trying to defuse the awkwardness.

Luan sighed. "I dunno…..I'm the sad sack here. You'll probably come up with better ideas."

"I know, why don't we go visit Cow World or whatever it's called." Ryan responded. "Perhaps this time we could try out that rollercoaster ride that advertises that it will make your barf, and let you be splashed in the face by said barf?"

"I'm good for that." Lynn shrugged approvingly. "I have a strong stomach, and I loves me a challenge."

Lincoln rolled his eyes. "Hate to be the buzzkill, but we're short on cash." he pointed out.

"Oh, contraire mon frère." Ryan remarked as he pulled out a valet from his pocket. "I think there are some fifty or so bucks in here."

Lincoln blinked, growing wary. "Eh…..where did you get that?"

"Snatched it from Blondy while we hoped into the limo." Ryan replied casually as he took out a driver's license. "Huh? Her name's Lori? I've been getting it wrong this whole time."

"You stole it?" Lincoln went agape; his sisters' were likewise surprised. Their responses, however, were the polar opposite.

"Wow! You hit the jackpot!" Lynn was amazed as she nabbed the valet to take a gander at its content.

"How'd ya pull it off?" Luan inquired with baffled intrigue.

"I'm like a ninja." Ryan smiled enigmatically. Only one of the girls understood the full meaning of it, but she was still impressed.

Lincoln was left dumbfounded by their reactions.

A still astounded Luan finally cracked a smile. "You must be one, to pull that off." She chuckled.

"Excuse me!" Lincoln exclaimed to gain their attention. "You do realize he stole something, right?" He gestured at Ryan.

"So?" the latter smirked. Lincoln stared at him, still dumbfounded.

"Yeah, so?" Lynn agreed with her friend. "Lori had it coming."

"And that's being generous….." Luan grumbled resentfully.

"What? Am…..am I the only one who sees this as morally wrong?" the white-haired boy responded in utter bewilderment.

"Linc, relax. There's nothing wrong from taking things from jerks like Lori. It's called karma." Lynn shrugged.

"Yeah, and I'd bet Mr. Coconuts that it was Bobby who earned that money from one of his many jobs and she just took her cut for "supervising" him." Luan concurred, unsubtly relishing getting payback on Lori by proxy.

"Pfft…..you actually have doubts about that?" Lynn snarked in agreement.

Lincoln saw Ryan flashing him a smug smirk that signaled "I have public support, sucker". Lincoln exhaled exasperatedly and slumped back into his seat, rubbing his forehead while mumbling, "Lori's gonna kill us when she finds her driver's license missing."

"Chill out, you boy scout…" Ryan rolled his eyes uncaringly "…..her new rich BFF will probably buy her a new one…along with a brand new Mazda MX-5."

Lincoln slapped himself mentally. Why did he feel compelled to agree with that cynical remark?

"Take from the snobs and give to the marginalized, I always say." Ryan continued to the girls, who both chuckled with amusement.

Lincoln deflated, figuring it was pointless to argue. They had the stolen money and one sad clown who was finally laughing again, might as well make the best of it. He always did want to try out the Milk Shaker.

He sighed and erected himself. "Fine, Dairyland it is. You all agree?" he asked just to be certain, turning back to Luan.

"Well, I guess so….." she said sheepishly. Suddenly, they heard a child crying.

The four turned to their right to see Lucy holding a bunch of cards and standing next to a small child, whose mother pulled him back into her lap while casting the goth an enraged glare. Lincoln, Lynn and Luan all recognized those cards and mentally kicked themselves for letting her wander off. Lynn was the one who got up and pulled Lucy back into their midst.

Hearing the commotion, the bus driver looked back and the others grew nervous and looked away from him while whistling innocently while Lynn pushed Lucy back between her and Ryan.

"Lucy, could you stop being a freak before you get us thrown out?" the jock whispered through clenched teeth.

"What? He agreed to let me read his fortune." Lucy responded innocently.

"And what did his card predict?" Lincoln asked exasperatedly, looking over his seat.

"It wasn't very specific, only that he would spend his final moments crushed under falling debris while being asphyxiated by smoke."

Ryan whistled. "Ouch, the kid got a raw deal."

Lincoln grumbled inwardly. These stupid fortuneteller cards she was busying were getting more morbid with every new pack. "Lucy…..just keep a low profile until we get back home, kay?" he told her in an even tone. "Let's not cause any trouble."

"Oh…do any of you want to hear your fortune?"

"Thanks, but no thanks." Lynn answered bluntly, remembering all the crap she got herself into the last time she listened to Lucy's asinine fortunetelling. Those cards never said anything about someone close to her getting battered by baseball bats or mauled by wolves.

"I'll take a pass on that." Lincoln agreed, sharing the same sentiment. He too had given himself a lot of grief the few times he put too much faith in those cards.

"I could use those cards." Luan said with intrigue. "I've been practicing card tricks for the last few weeks for my future magic shows."

Lucy frowned. "I don't think these cards were meant for that."

"Cards are cards, Lucy. I can work with any of them."

Ryan shrugged, growing interested. "Let her do it, Spooky. She's quite a wiz with parlor tricks."

Luan blushed while Lynn quietly seethed. This time, Lincoln took notice of both of them and grew concerned, but he figured that right now it was more important to lift Luan's spirit a bit.

"Yeah, I saw you pull a pen from Ryan's ear, what else you got?"

"Oh, I'm quite handy in that regard." She joked while wiggling her fingers before taking the cards, and started shuffling them, splitting them into two stacks and mixing them up again.

After a while, Lynn rolled her eyes with impatience. "Will you get on with it, Chuckles?"

"Patience, Lynn. Patience." The comedian rebutted while holding the stack up and bending it in one hand. "Now, I'll need one of you to pick-"

Abruptly, the cards slipped free and sprang out of her hand, and flew towards the driver. The man got startled and blinded by the sudden shower of cards, and failed to see an oncoming car driving towards him. The vehicle shook and made a screeching sound against the pavement, scaring the passengers, as the bus dodged the car at the last second and stopped at the side of the road immediately after.

The driver turned around angrily, holding some of the cards. "Who did this!?" The likewise angered passengers all gladly pointed at Luan, who shrank under everyone's glares and chuckled nervously.

"Uppss…..eh….butterfingers?"


The bus door opened, and Lynn was tossed out and landed on the dusty ground, followed by Lincoln, and then Ryan, and Luan, and finally Lucy. Lynn pulled herself out from the bottom of the pile and rushed to confront the driver.

"Hey, buddy!" she shook her fist angrily. "I'm pretty sure it's against the law to abandon kids in the middle of no-"

"I believe this is yours." The driver shoved the deck of cards into her hands before closing the door and driving off.

Lynn fumed. "Asshole!" she yelled in vain while the others got up and rubbed their sore spots.

"Some people can't take a joke." Luan muttered before having Lynn all up in her face.

"Nice work, dumbass! Because of your asinine tricks we have to walk our way to town!"

"Hey, it was an accident, aright!" Luan shot back, though much less confidently.

"And you!" Lynn turned at Lucy. "If you hadn't brought those stinking cards along…."

"I wasn't the one who flung them at the driver." Lucy retorted evenly, as Luan continued crumbling with shame.

"Girls, break it up." Lincoln walked between them. "What's done is done. There's no point in yelling."

"Sigh. Lincoln's right. It won't improve our predicament." Lucy walked up to her brother and gestured at the surrounding forest.

Lynn calmed down and exhaled, her gaze drifting towards the town which was within a walking distance. Going on foot wasn't what pissed her off, as much as the simple humiliation she just endured thanks to Luan's buffoonery.

"I thought you'd be happy about this, since you love stretching your legs." Ryan quipped as he walked up behind Lucy.

"Will you shut up!" Lynn retorted petulantly. "I doubt any of you enjoyed getting tossed out because of that klutz!" she pointed at Luan, who turned away in shame.

"No, it was deeply demeaning." Lucy sighed. "But I've long since grown used to such bad luck."

Ryan rolled his eyes. "Yeah it sucks but there's no use crying about it. And as much as I love gawking at nature, we have a park to go to and we're wasting daylight, not to mention….."

He stopped and, making sure Lucy wasn't watching him, closed one eye, bared his teeth and mimed having claws with his fingers. Both Lynn and Lincoln immediately got the message, and grew scared. Lincoln felt a chill run down his spine as he realized that they were once again in the woods, and took a cautious look around. The forest that surrounded them was eerily quiet, way too quiet for their liking.

"Fine, whatever, let's get going." Lynn hastily agreed, trying not to show any fear, while taking the silence around them as a very bad omen.

"Lincoln, are you alright?" Lucy snapped her brother out of his thoughts.

The boy swallowed and looked at her tentatively. "Yeah, I'm fine. I….just don't like jogging and all. You know me." He tittered awkwardly.

Lucy took note of his nervous demeanor, but before she could respond Lincoln rushed towards Luan, who was facing away from the rest.

"Luan, are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

"Lynn's right, I screw everything up….." she grumbled self-loathingly.

"Luan, c'mon, it was just an accident, they happen. It's a lovely day with clear blue skies anyway, perfect weather for taking a stroll."

"You just said you didn't like jogging?" Lucy pointed out.

Lincoln gulped. "Eh….yeah, I don't, but a simple stroll is a different matter, much less strenuous." He answered nervously before turning to Lynn. "Right, Lynn."

He urged his sporty sister to agree. Knowing they were in danger out here, Lynn swallowed her pride and nodded.

"Sure, I love a stroll…" Lincoln's gaze signaled for her to continue "…..eh…..sorry about calling you a dumbass, Lu, I know you didn't mean to get us in trouble."

"Right and I'm pretty sure Dairyland won't stay open all day." Ryan spoke up as he strolled towards the comedian. "C'mon, Lu. Don't let my pickpocketing be for naught." He added jokingly.

Luan grew a weak smile. Even when she messed up royally, Ryan wasn't mad at her. "Okay, you bad boy. Let's scram."

"Great, and let's be quick about it. Like Ryan said, Dairyland won't stay open all day." Lincoln urged her to go, trying his best not to sound over-anxious.

"Lincoln, why are you so skittish?" Lucy asked him.

"Why does she have to be so nosy!?" Lynn lamented inwardly. "He's…..he's obviously excited about going to Dairyland, so let's not keep him waiting. C'mon!" she curtly gestured for them to follow her and headed towards town.

"You're absolutely right, Lynn!" Lincoln was more than happy to oblige and pulled Luan along. "Let's get a move on!"

Lucy watched him go, confused by his inexplicable anxiety, before turning to Ryan, who she found surveying the surrounding woodland.

"Ryan?"

He tensed up a bit before nimbly turning towards her. "Eh…yes?"

"What's with Lincoln's unease? You seem nervous about something too?"

"Nervous? Ha, why would I be nervous?" Ryan scoffed jokingly. "And Lincoln? Meh…..I showed him some…eh slasher film last night. Yeah, yeah!" he quickly improvised an answer. "About some psycho killer stalking a bunch of kids while camping, picking off one after another as the flick went on. Poor guy couldn't sleep after that. The woods here must remind him of it."

Lucy pondered about his response, admitting that it made sense. "Oh….? Lincoln doesn't do well with horror films, especially graphic ones."

"Yeah, my bad." Ryan shrugged.

"Ryan! Let's go!" they heard Lynn yell.

"Mustn't keep the lady waiting." Ryan quipped and took Lucy's hand. "Come on." He led her away, trying to catch up with the others, as eager as the other two to get out of here.

As he did that, he noticed a large bird soaring in circles high in the sky, a vulture. Ryan felt his skin crawl and felt even more compelled to reach civilization. Wherever such buzzards went, big predators couldn't be far away.


Eventually, the kids made it to the local park. Once they were out of the woods, Lincoln, Lynn and Ryan could finally relax and the trip quickly became more pleasant, other than for Lucy's occasional complaining.

"Are you sure none of you knows how to untie these?" Lucy asked for the fifth time while pulling on her pigtails, as the group walked past the park's gates.

"Sorry, none of us are hair stylists." Lynn shrugged, still amused by her little sister's inconvenience.

"C'mon, Lucy. I thought you of all people would appreciate having dreadlocks." Luan joked. "Get it?"

"They are dreadful, but for all the wrong reasons." Lucy muttered dejectedly.

"I thought you liked being miserable." Lynn snorted.

"There's a right way and a wrong way to be miserable." Lucy retorted sullenly.

"C'mon, Luce. It's not that bad of a hairstyle." Lincoln tried to cheer her up, not that it helped much.

"Yeah, just go with the flow and embrace your cornrow." Luan joked, not that her rhyming got much of a reaction, other than Lucy rolling her still fully-exposed eyes.

"Nice to see you're in a good mood again, you sad clown." Lynn noted. "Let's just hope it's not good enough to encourage more puns." She added snidely, earning a glower from Luan.

"Oh, you wanna hear something real funny?" Ryan asked and stopped the group as he gestured at the local lake. "Then take a gander at this, Lu. This is the very place where we got the drop on your treacherous sisters and pranked them real good."

"Oh right, I remember. What happened?" Luan asked with intrigue. She knew Ryan, Lincoln and Lynn had taken the sisters on a wild goose chase a few days back, but never came around to ask what exactly happened. Lincoln rolled his eyes, hardly proud of his involvement.

"It's quite the tale." Ryan smiled proudly. "You should take a seat."

They sat together at a bench as Ryan recounted the collaborative "prank" involving the DeMonet letter, Luan, unsurprisingly, loved the puny name. Lincoln didn't join in on the storytelling; neither did Lynn, as it reminded her of the embarrassing way she was taken out of the fight. Luckily, Ryan was thoughtful enough to change that bit from Lynn being hypnotized into spanking herself until her bottom had more stripes than a zebra's to her getting knocked out in during the struggle by a falling coat hanger. It was still embarrassing but a lot less so than the truth.

"I really oughta get payback on Lisa for that." Lynn thought bitterly. "With the whole zombie thing, I'll also have a convenient excuse to cut loose with my revenge."

By the end of it, Luan was clutching her gut giggling, and even Lucy sniggered a little.

"And the take away from this? Blondy's not nearly as tough as you think she is. My sister would never have been felled by a little B.O." Ryan concluded.

After finally relaxing, Luan turned to Lincoln and Lynn. "That was a pretty clever ploy, but sounds like you guys got roughed up quite a bit enacting it."

"Yeah, you could say that." Lynn rolled her eyes bitterly.

"Word of advice, Linky." Luan told her brother helpfully. "There's always the prankster and there's the pranked, and the former should never be on the receiving end of any misfortune. Pain and misery are the crux of comedy, ergo reserved for the unsuspecting victim."

Lincoln forced a smile. "Yeah….I'll try to remember that. But we should probably leave the pranking to you."

"Oh no, by all means, keep trying." Luan smiled encouragingly. "The most fulfilling pranks are the ones who prey on the victim's deepest, most selfish desires; like greed. It's always funnier when you add a dash of karma."

"Good point, Lu. It will also free you of any charges should the prank go amiss if the victim brings most of their sorrow on themselves. Your sisters sure couldn't complain about it to your mom and dad without admitting about trying to hunt us down and lynch us, huh pipsqueak?"

Lincoln cast Ryan a subtle glare. "Yeah….sure…."

"Huh?" Luan rubbed her chin. "Maybe I should take that approach in the future. Maybe if karma's in my favor it won't lead to any…." She slowly grew despondent "…..eh…accidents."

Not wanting to dwell on that, she quickly changed the topic. "So? Eh….how do you think dad did with that critic guy?"

"No clue, we'll know when we get back." Lynn shrugged before frowning doubtfully. "I hope it went well. We all wasted some valuable summer time keeping an eye on those sheep."

Luan felt offended, knowing she was technically lumped into that category but quickly thought back on the very recent mishap on the bus, and begrudgingly realized that she was in no position to resent that remark.

"So your master plan was to take us all on the lamb as a distraction?" she joked, again without much of a reaction.

"That was the general idea." Lincoln admitted. "Though I regret suggesting a picnic, that way we wouldn't have run into Kathleen. I'm sorry, Luan."

His sister sighed. "It's not your fault, Linky. Nobody could have known."

"I don't blame you." Ryan shrugged. "Otherwise I never would have gotten the chance to flip the bird on live TV."

Lincoln's face fell flat. "You're welcome." He responded sarcastically.

Luan chuckled. "I hope mom and dad weren't watching, otherwise they might get the idea that you're trouble."

"Oh, I'm plenty of trouble." Ryan stated proudly. "But I'm sure you like that." Lincoln saw Luan blush slightly.

"Well, what girl doesn't find a bad boy…..intriguing?"

Lynn started twitching, something that didn't go unnoticed by Lincoln. He sighed inwardly. He had to talk to Lynn about it, as uncomfortable as it was. It had to be done.

"Eh, Lynn? I…. just remembered something that I wanted to talk to you about?" he said tentatively.

It took the jock a second to hear his voice over her boiling jealousy.

"What's that?" she responded a bit abruptly.

"It's…..something private." He said uneasily, earning everyone's full attention.

Luan raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean private?"

Lincoln's gaze remained locked with Lynn's, and it quickly dawned on her. "The mission? Right, it must be about the mission."

"Oh, right. The….thing we're…..the thing." she responded. "Ryan, can you come so the three of us can have a word?"

"No, no. Dammit." Lincoln facepalmed inwardly.

Ryan was quick on the update and smiled. "Ah, yes!" he slapped his forehead. "I completely forgot about it."

"Forgot what?" a confused Lucy asked.

"Why, we have to send Mr. L a full status update on our mission, including everything about Kathleen." Ryan explained quickly.

"Yeah…" Lynn quickly got the gist. "He should know our sisters fell in with the wrong crowd so he can do something about it later."

Luan blinked but slowly smiled. "Oh? Yes, dad could put a stop on whatever Kathleen plans to do with them. She might be rich, but she can't say nothing if our parents don't give their consent."

But Lucy wasn't so easily swayed. "But why can't you just call him here and now?"

"Call him?" Ryan chortled. "Oh, heaven's no. He's probably still talking with that stuck-up critic, he can't afford any interruptions. Therefore we must send him a lengthy text message report, which could take a bit."

"But what about Dairyland?" Luan asked.

"Don't worry, we'll do it as fast as possible." Ryan reassured her before grabbing a five dollar bill out of his stolen valet, and gave it to Luan. "In the meantime, go buy Spooky and yourself some ice cream and be on your merry way, we'll catch up with you in Dairyland."

"Yeah, we'll catch up with you." Lynn nodded and grabbed Lincoln by the arm while Ryan grabbed his other one, and they lifted him off the ground.

"Yup, and eat a LOT of ice cream so you can have the full experience with the Milk Shaker." Ryan quipped as they walked off, carrying Lincoln between them. "Too-da-loo!"

"What just happened?" Lucy asked her remaining sibling.

"They have to report back to dad." The comedian shrugged, nowhere near as suspicious as the goth. "So, do you prefer butter pecan or blue moon?"

"Sigh. What's up with them?" Lucy wondered. They were acting more and more suspicious.


"Guys, I can walk!" Lincoln lamented with growing frustration as they reached the small bridged overseeing a stream flowing into the lake, and his feet were finally allowed to touch the ground.

"So what's the emergency now? Did you remember something that happened on this date?" Lynn asked.

"Something dreadful I presume?" Ryan snarked.

"No, that's not it." Lincoln immediately denied it.

"Then what is it?" Lynn asked. "Doesn't this involve our mission to-"

"Yes it does, Lynn. But I need to talk to you about it. Just you, in private." Lincoln cut to the chase.

Ryan blinked in confusion before snorting. "And why am I being excluded? I am the most invaluable member of this team."

Lincoln looked at him, not knowing how to respond, as he quickly grew uncomfortable with the topic he was intending to discuss. "Because…." He quickly lost his voice.

"What is it, Lincoln?" Lynn asked.

"I….I'm really not comfortable talking about this kind of stuff." He explained it to the best of his abilities.

His sister cocked an eyebrow, noting the sheer amount of discomfort her brother exhibited simply starting this conversation.

Ryan, on the other hand, having the dirty mind he does (and enjoying messing with people), jumped to some nasty conclusions. "You're "uncomfortable" talking about it?" he asked with air quotes.

"Yes, I am." Lincoln said bluntly. "So, could you just let us-"

Ryan's laughter cut him off. "Oh, pipsqueak, I have this nagging suspicion that whatever you want to discuss, you're better off talking to me than her." He pointed at himself before gesturing at Lynn.

"Guys, I'm not following this." Lynn replied.

"Lynn, trust me, there are some things I girl should never hear from her brother, and vice versa." Ryan wiggled his index finger before an annoyed Lincoln walked up to him and looked him dead in the eye.

"Whatever you're thinking of, and trust me, I don't want to dwell on that, I can assure you it's not what I want to talk about." The younger boy said bluntly. Ryan's amusement slowly faded and he became just as confused as Lynn.

Lincoln turned away and faced his sister. "Lynn, can we please just talk about this alone. Please." He said simply. "It's very important, and we'll inform him in due time." He gestured at Ryan.

Lynn took a moment to think about it, before slowly nodding. "Well…okay, bro. Whatever it is, I'm all ears."

"And why am I being left in the dark?" Ryan snarked.

"Ryan, if he's uncomfortable talking about it with you around, then let him be and stop badgering him." Lynn retorted. "You ain't his dearest confidant, is all I'm saying." She added in a snarky tone.

"I said I will tell him, just….. not right now." Lincoln calmly clarified.

Ryan rolled his eyes and just gave in. "Fine." He threw his arms up in defeat. "Does that mean I can go and hang out with Spooky and Funny Girl?"

"I was hoping you could keep an eye on them, so they'll stay out of trouble." Lincoln replied.

Ryan smirked. "That's gonna be a breeze." He proclaimed smugly. "I've got them both wrapped around my little finger as it is." His remark caused Lynn visible irritation.

"Okay, see you later." Lincoln walked past them and towards the other side of the stream. "Come on, Lynn. This won't take long."

"Coming, Linc, just quit being cryptic." Lynn quipped. "I gotta get you away from Lucy."

"Well…." Ryan stretched his arms "….mustn't keep the pretty lady waiting." He was about to go when Lynn grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked sharply, glaring him in the eye.

Ryan smiled slyly. "Well, it wouldn't be very gentlemanly to deprive her of my company for too long."

He winced as Lynn tightened her grip. "If you try anything funny with her, I will make you regret it." She warned him dangerously.

"Why, Lynn? Do I detect a hint of jealously?" Ryan's smile widened.

"Don't play games with me, buster." Lynn barked. "If you get cozy with her while I'm away, you're a dead man."

Ryan jerked his arm free. "So you're growing possessive of me. I'm flattered."

Lynn withdrew a bit at his remark and grew a faint blush. "Chill, Lynn, I ain't gonna do nothing."

Ryan raised his hands up as he took several steps back. "I see you're itching to take the next step, and I won't disappoint you." He winked at her and ran off, leaving her utterly flustered.

"Ugh! Why is he so…..ugh!" she grumbled, trying to regain her train of thought.

"Lynn, are you coming?"

"Coming." She blurted nervously, and followed her brother.


"Here you go, Luce." Luan gave her little sister a cone of swirly, black-colored ice cream. What flavor would give it that color, the comedian had no clue?

"Thanks." Lucy took it and her sister led her away from the vendor, the latter carrying a cone of pistachio ice cream.

"I didn't even know they served this flavor here." Lucy commented.

"Oh, so you must really like the taste?" Luan inquired.

"Not really, liquorish isn't very tasty; I just like it for the color." Lucy admitted between licks. Luan grew a queasy expression but didn't comment.

She then realized how strange her situation was, strolling through the park with Lucy of all her siblings. The two of them weren't exactly alike, in fact, they were textbook definitions of "polar opposites", one laughed, the other frowned, one was gowned in black, the other usually wore sunny yellow and pure white. Naturally, the two didn't jive well. Granted, "the Duchess of Darkness", as Lynn unaffectionately called her, didn't really jive with any of her siblings other than Lincoln, but her and Luan in particular really were like night and day, and unsurprisingly, especially in a family as big as theirs, didn't usually engage in many conversations. In fact, since their visit at Tisdale Towers, she and Lucy had probably exchanged more words than they ever had for half of this year. It made her realize how little she knew about Lucy, who apart from sometimes socializing with her only brother, tended to keep to herself.

Luan herself had a shaky relationship with her siblings too, throughout her short life she recalled having spent the most time with Lincoln, who she didn't doubt cared for her but was unsure just how much of his devotion was born out of a sense of obligation instead of genuinely enjoying her company, and her comedy. The others were more openly dismissive of her; she had tried connecting with her elder sisters, without much success. She didn't know Lynn very well but generally saw her as very one-note kind of person (sports fanatic and little else), the twins were also easy to figure out and neither had much in common with her, and Lisa was another introverted recluse.

Yet out of all of them, Lucy was one of the few who stood by her side when Luan's nemesis stepped into the picture and lured her other sisters away with promises of luxury. Even more so, Lucy didn't just side with her, she immediately saw Kathleen for the scum she was, and was off-put by the evil cheerleader's presence from the get-go. Like the rest of the sisters, Luan generally thought of Lucy as weird and creepy, hyper-intuitive was not something any of them would have pegged the goth as. And now that she thought about it, Lucy was also the only one, sans Lincoln, to show no real hostility towards her in the wake of her final Prankmageddon. As weird as it seemed, Luan actually felt compelled to learn more about the sisters she had ostensibly the least in common with.

"Luan, have you noticed anything off about Lincoln, Lynn and even Ryan?" Lucy asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean they all seemed rather skittish when we were in the woods, and seemed overly eager to get away from us just now?'

"Well, they said they needed to send a status report to dad." Luan shrugged.

"I know, but don't they seem a little suspicious to you? I sense that they are hiding something." Lucy elaborated.

Luan blinked before chuckling. "Don't be silly, Lucy. They were hiding something, yes. But they told us about it."

"I know, I was in on it before we even left for the picnic." Lucy pointed out.

"Well then, what else could they possibly be hiding, Luce?" Luan shrugged.

"I think you're seeing things that aren't really there." She patted her shoulder. Lucy was furious on the inside. Yet again she was being patronized and dismissed. She doubted Luan was any more willing to listen to her baby sister than the others were, or their parents for that matter, so she stopped bothering to convince her.

"Sigh. You're probably right." She said in defeat.

Lucy had thought long and hard about it. She supposed that most of the trio's odd behavior and secretive meetings could be attributive to them being in cahoots with the Louds' patriarch as part of an elaborate plan to make their home a safe and welcoming environment for the critic her father was awaiting. Fair enough, she understood that, and was technically in on it. But the more she thought about it the more did Lucy realize that there were plenty of other instances during this entire week where Lincoln and Lynn were acting strangely, that didn't fit in line with their secret task.

Like the time Lincoln felt ill and didn't eat dinner. And it was Lynn of all people who came to check if he was okay and apparently slept with him in order to give him comfort for whatever was eating him up.

"Lincoln's not feeling well and he needs to talk to me! You don't know what's bothering him, I do! You wouldn't understand!" Those were her exact words when she forced Lucy away from consulting Lincoln herself. In retrospect, they were even more suspicious than she originally gave them credit for.

And the very next morning, the two of them called for a meeting, asking their fellow siblings to help out more with their parents' choirs, lamenting how overworked their parents were, which in hindsight Lucy believed to be true but why did the two of them specifically notice that and suddenly became concerned about it and no one else? And they asked the others to be less destructive, a ridiculously insane request for the Loud sisters. And most bizarrely of all, Lynn explicitly voiced her fear that their parents would divorce.

That came right of nowhere. Sure, they might be overworked but who said anything about their marriage falling apart? Why would Lynn get that impression? And prior to those two events both Lynn and Lincoln seemed oddly sullen and reclusive for the previous two or so days. Lincoln likes his privacy sure, but Lucy's own roommate not causing any mayhem for forty-eight hours seemed insane and implausible.

"Do Lynn and Lincoln know something the rest of us don't?" Lucy seriously started to consider. If for the sake of argument, their parents were indeed thinking about divorce, that would be a pretty solid reason for any child to fall into depression or do everything in their power to prevent it.

Then they spent a day with Ryan, and they came back injured, Ryan and Lynn battered from playing football, Lincoln with a black eye which he claims to have attained by slipping in a mall bathroom, and they brought back Charles, who had been maimed in what appears to have been a scuffle with another dog. Those three incidents all seemed unrelated, but Lucy was seriously starting to doubt that now.

But if all four of them were attacked and hurt in a single incident, who was the aggressor? The bruises would imply a bully or a gang of bullies, but Charles was clearly maimed by another animal. Did the bully have a vicious attack dog with him? Maybe, but if so, why on Earth wouldn't they tell their parents about it? Lynn was prideful and bullheaded, sure, but Lincoln was sensible and smart, there is no logical reason why he would keep it a secret. Were the bullies threatening them and Ryan? Lucy started to grow concerned. The stuff Lynn told her a week ago about Lincoln being in a funk and only Lynn knowing the cause of it would make sense in that context.

But how does that in any way tie into mom and dad being stressed out and possibly facing a failing marriage? Was it merely an unfortunate coincidence? Processing all of that, Lucy ran into more questions than answers. It was beyond frustrating.

And then there was the latest and by all accounts the most inexplicable anomaly, her recent lapse in memory. And unless she had misheard them while passing in on their conversations, Lori, Leni, the twins, Luan and even Bobby suffered the same things, and on the same day. Regardless if this was true for the others, Lucy's recent fit of amnesia had been on her brain all day, expect during the numerous turn of events, revelations and surprises that kept her distracted. Okay, so maybe she hadn't dwelled on it too much.

Regardless, her lack of any memory of yesterday evening baffled her relentlessly. Lincoln attributed it to her drinking expired cartons of orange juice. His rationalization sounded beyond asinine to her then, and now it sounded like a flimsy lie at best. Were those three somehow responsible for her and the others' amnesia? That sounded absurd, except? They had a sister who has pulled off some improbable and crazy stuff with her scientific exploits. Did wiping memories ala the Man in Black sound that farfetched for someone of Lisa's caliber? And she was curiously absent from their picnic and apparently because she was suffering from insomnia? What could all of that mean? Why would any of them want her or the others to forget about yesterday?

Lucy was left with three puzzling questions: something involving the trio and mom and dad, something that could involve the trio facing trouble from some shady characters and lastly her own memory loss and, potentially, a mass amnesia that the three could…..possibly…..maybe be involved in?

"Hey, kiddo, you in there?" the sound of snapping fingers shook her out of her trance. She shook her head and looked to see Ryan staring down at her before glancing at her feet. "Eh, you dropped something on your shoe."

"Ryan?" she uttered before looking down and found her ice cream splattered on her shoe, and her cone empty.

"Lucy, what's wrong? You looked like you spaced out for a moment?" Luan questioned her.

"I….I was thinking about something, nothing important." Lucy replied tentatively. "What are you doing here?" she asked Ryan instinctively.

Ryan shrugged his shoulders lazily. "As I told ya, I weaseled my way out of doing the boring paperwork, so I could hang out with you two instead."

"Well, aren't we lucky, eh Luce?" Luan quipped with a flirty undertone to her voice.

"Eh…sure we are." Lucy replied hoarsely.

"So what are we gonna do first?"

"How about finding Lucy a good shoeshiner?" Ryan snarked.

"Of course, silly me." Luan smiled sheepishly. "But I mean after that? Shall we give ourselves a head-start to Dairyland?"

"Sure, why not. But it would be rude for us to hop on the various rides, before Lynn and Linky make it."

"You're such a gentleman." Luan smiled sweetly.

Meanwhile, Lucy weighed out her options. She had to learn what was going on, but how? She only had three possible options. Lynn wouldn't tell her jack, she knew that. Ryan? Possibly, but she figured her best option was Lincoln. But she suspected he wouldn't fess up easy, she would have to catch him alone and firmly confront him about it, not taking no for an answer.

"But what should we do in the meantime?"

"I dunno, what would our little vampire fancy?" Ryan turned to the goth.

"Me?" Lucy asked, still caught up in her thoughts.

"Yeah, Lucy. You know I'm not really familiar with the inner workings of your weird and poetic little mind, so feel free to speak." Luan smiled.

"Don't know? I thought you two were tight?" Ryan said offhandedly.

Their reaction came as a surprise to him, as both suddenly gawked at him in bewilderment.

"Wut?" Luan squinted.

"Who told you that?" Lucy asked incredulously.

Ryan blinked, realizing he had slipped up. He thought the two were close, that's what Lynn told him at least. But he quickly realized that he was told that in the future. Apparently, this wasn't a thing yet at this point in time?

He scrambled to cover his mistake. "Oh…well, I just assumed you were close, with her siding with you against Kathleen and all."

Similarly, he also realized how when he first met Luan, she was essentially the den mother among the siblings, who just happened to have a quirky sense of humor. The Luan he had known for this week exhibited none of the former and was just a clown with a quirky sense of humor. "Seems some shit happened after the divorce?" He concluded.

"Well…I…" Luan rubbed the back of her neck and looked aside, realizing just now how embarrassing she looked admitting that she knew next to nothing about her younger sister, though granted; she did have five of them, none of which showed much interest in her, and most showed little respect for her either. "Me and Lucy haven't spent much time together, a lot of things kinda get lost in the shuffle in a family as humongous as ours." She admitted sheepishly.

The revelation made Ryan ponder. Both of these girls needed someone to relate to, and both shared more in common with each other than either realized, mainly being weird and marginalized outcasts. He understood that well since it was something all three of them had in common. "Well, we're trying to fix the future, but there's no reason to fix things about the future that are for the better. We should try accelerating those! But I can't be pushy about it." Ryan mused before chuckling.

"Well, this is a great chance for you two to finally explore that untapped territory. You, me and her, let's do something both of you can enjoy."

Ryan clapped his hands and looked at Luan. "Lemme see, you love comedy?" Then he turned to Lucy "And you adore everything scary and macabre?"

"I got it." He raised his index finger up. "Let's pull off a grandiose prank! But not just any prank, one rooted in black comedy."

"Oh, I do like black comedy." Luan admitted, much to Lucy's surprise.

"You do?" she asked incredulously.

"Sure I do." Luan smiled. "I dabble in every type of comedy. A comedian can never let themselves grow stale with only one shtick."

Lucy smiled. "Well, I am of the opinion that every horror story or tragedy needs a little levity to keep it from being too somber, preferably of the dark kind."

"Perfect, anyway, here's what I had in mind." Ryan gestured for Luan to kneel down, so Lucy could huddle together with them, and he started whispering his plan to them. Opinions on his plan, however, quickly became divided.

"I like the sound of that. Sounds wicked." Lucy said approvingly.

Luan, on the other hand, didn't seem so thrilled. She was frankly shocked to find out Ryan's mind would venture into such…messed up territory. "I…..eh…don't know about that." She spoke meekly. "I don't think I'm comfortable with that kind of stuff."

Lucy sighed inwardly with immense disappointment. "Well, if you're uncomfortable, we could do something more low-key." she said in resignation. "If you want to pull off a prank I can help you, just as long as you don't get overzealous with it." Luan smiled with appreciation.

"In that case, I have the perfect idea for a prank." Ryan smiled deviously.


Meanwhile….

"So, what's got you so worked up?" Lynn asked her brother once they were a good distance away from their group.

Lincoln remained silent for a bit and looked off into the distance as they strolled down the path admits a lively park full of people.

He sighed. "I think there's as a bump on our road to fixing our future, one we need to smooth out right now."

"So what's the problem? And why are you only bringing it up now?" Lynn inquired. "And why did you snub Ryan anyway?"

"Because he's kind of the cause of the problem." Lincoln admitted, Lynn looked at him oddly. He clarified. "But it's also kinda my fault….." he added with resignation "…..since I approved it in the first place, despite knowing that it was a stupid plan."

"Okay, now you're not making a lick of sense." Lynn joked. Lincoln felt dread, knowing that in a minute or two she would not be as chipper.

He saw a large tree a few yards ahead, casting a massive shadow. "Let's sit down, I'll explain in a sec." he gestured at it and Lynn agreed.

"Okay, quit trying to be Lucy and spill the beans." Lynn told him as she sat down next to him in the shade and leaned against the trunk of the tree. "What's the matter?

Lincoln once again struggled to find his voice. There were certain topics no boy wanted to discuss with his big sister, especially when he did not approve of her suitor.

"Okay, just promise me you won't get mad. I'm not saying this to mock you or anything." He said in a low voice.

Lynn erected herself and grew an annoyed expression. "Why would I get mad? Do you think I'm some rage monster with a short fuse?" she asked indignantly.

Lincoln couldn't help but grow a faint smirk. "You really want me to answer that?"

"Ha, ha, ha…" Lynn retorted dryly. "Quit beating around the bush, Funny Boy, and just tell me what's on your mind?"

Lincoln slowly exhaled, bracing himself for a world of awkwardness. "Well…..we both know how you have a huge crush on Taylor."

Lynn's face was instantly drained of color, and she grew a frightened reaction akin to a cornered animal. "What are you talking about?!" she blurted and tensed up.

Her response couldn't have been more unsurprising to Lincoln. "Lynn, stay calm. I just want-"

Lynn suddenly pushed him to the ground, his head hitting the soft grass.

"I don't have a crush on him! Where did you get that bogus idea!" Lynn yelled defensively.

"Here we go…." Lincoln muttered inwardly as he sat back up.

"Seriously now! You want to make fun of me too!"

"Lynn. It's not that, I just-"

"I expected better from you!" Lynn snapped. "Our sisters are one thing, but you-"

"LYNN!" Lincoln snapped back, startling her into going silent. The boy exhaled again. "I'm not making fun of you." He said firmly. His sister stared at him nervously.

Before she could speak up, he continued. "I thought you said I was your favorite sibling and that we could tell each other anything?" He added more gently, trying to reason with her.

Lynn grew anxious, trying to reply. Why did he have to immediately tackle her with such a guilt card?

"I don't have a crush on him!" she repeated as a knee-jerk reaction. "I told you that before!"

Lincoln groaned inwardly but quickly thought of a way to make her fess up.

"You don't?" he pretended to believe her.

"Of course I don't! Why would I lie to you?" she retorted indignantly, feeling a smidge of hope that he would buy it.

"Oh, okay. Sorry, Lynn." Lincoln replied. "So I guess you don't mind what Luan was doing to him during the …." His tone turned grim "….eh….zombie outbreak at home."

The jock's eyes turned to the size of dinner plates. "What did she do?!"

"Well, she flirted with him, hugged him, stroked his face, demanded that we leave the two of them alone in your room." Lincoln explained while observing Lynn growing redder from fury with each passing word. "And then she kissed him-"

"What?!" Lynn blurted in utter horror.

"….on his cheek." Lincoln finished. Lynn felt a huge amount of relief, but the anger inside of her was still boiling.

"But he seemed to like it, given his reaction." Lincoln continued. "And the dress Luan was wearing also caught his eye."

Lynn lost her voice, as her whole face started twitching like a broken down animatronics'. An overwhelming urge to rip Ryan's spleen out coursed through her.

"And then she tried to lock lips with him…" Lincoln saved the worst for last. Lynn once again grew horrified when Lincoln opened his mouth again.

"…but she turned into a zombie before she could do it, and me and Taylor had to restrain her."

But it was too late now; Lynn was furious and jumped to her feet. "That two-faced bastard! That conniving, little skank! I'll kill them! I'll…." Lynn stopped and started breathing heavily as something dawned on her. She had been played.

Lincoln looked at her with a neutral expression, but Lynn knew him all too well to spot that tiny twinkle in his eyes that said "Got ya!".

"Ugh…..you….little sneak!" she hissed while her cheeks turned crimson.

"Easy there, Lynn. I said that I wasn't gonna mock you." Lincoln raised his hands up."I just had to get this out of you, so we could talk for real."

Still trembling with anger, Lynn dropped to her knees so the two were on eye level. "Talk? About what?!" she said irritably. "You being nosy and not minding your own freaking beeswax!"

"Lynn, I wasn't intruding on your privacy." He retorted firmly. "I didn't need you to confess something I already knew about. I just needed you to admit it cuz otherwise, we couldn't talk about the real issue that worries me."

But Lynn hadn't heard anything past his first response, her eyes widened with fear, before narrowing them again. "You knew? How?"

Lincoln grew uncomfortable again. "Lynn, the thing with you and Taylor…it's kind of obvious. I mean….you do realize that pretty much everyone at home, other than mom and dad, knows it? Even Lucy and Lisa know, that's what made me realize the severity of the….. problem."

Lynn bit her lip and looked down, overwhelmed with a feeling of unease. In hindsight, why was she even surprised? Lincoln wasn't stupid, neither was Lucy, and Lisa was a genius. And her big sisters were intrusive as hell when it came to crushes and boys. Deep down, she knew it was a futile gesture trying to keep this a secret, but she clung on to some foolish hope that she could.

Lincoln's words echoed Ryan's, they both knew it was a pointless charade and they were right. But it didn't make it any easier for her, to have something this private be made public knowledge.

As his sister turned silent, Lincoln grew worried and felt guilty for upsetting her. "Lynn? Are you alright?"

"Mom…." Lynn muttered, struggling to form coherent words "…..mom also knows." She admitted. "I spoke with her about it."

Lincoln was mildly surprised at the revelation, but it didn't last long. Of course Lynn would turn to their mother over something like this. Who else was there with whom she could talk about such private matters while feeling safe and secure?

"Oh…" he said carefully "…..and what did she say?"

Lynn still didn't make eye contact with him. "Not much. She was cool with it and just told me how it was all part of "growing up", and that I should embrace it and be happy, not scared."

"I see….." Lincoln scratched the back of his head. "I….don't want to be intrusive, but…..why didn't you tell me this? I thought…y'know, we didn't keep secrets from each other."

Lynn tensed up. Her brother didn't sound upset or betrayed, he remained calm and reasonable. Why did he have to be like that? It just made her feel even more like a spineless wimp.

"I mean, I know it's not my business about which boy you like…but it's just…."

"Will you drop the modesty act!" Lynn retorted aggressively. "Ryan's your business too! You two are far too chummy not to be!"

Lincoln was stunned by her response. He didn't expect her to say that, but she was right. Wheatear he liked it or not, he and Ryan were far more acquainted than you would be with some guy you only knew about because your sister was crushing on him. Ryan knew that he read comics in his underwear, and he knew about Ryan moonlighting as a ninja, despite not being friends. And that was before their time travel adventure.

"Okay, if you say so." Lincoln simply concurred. "But then why didn't you just tell me-"

"Because I was scared! That's why!" Lynn snapped, her voice cracking. Lincoln jerked back, while Lynn's rage face was soon replaced by a pitiful expression before looking down again.

"Scared?" Lincoln found his voice. "You? Scared?" he asked incredulously. That was the last reason he would have expected from Lynn to keep a secret.

Lynn tensed up again. Once more, her brother didn't belittle her; he was just surprised and curious. She hated looking weak in front of him. She was supposed to be the strong one who protected him, how could she be that when she couldn't even speak openly over a stupid crush?

"But, Lynn? Since when did you let fear get in the way of anything?" Lincoln asked gently. Lynn looked at him and scooted closer.

"This is different, you don't understand." She muttered as she seated herself next to him again. "This isn't like playing sports. I want to do that stuff, there's nothing scary about it when you want to do it, but this…." She chewed her limp, as pure embarrassment started eating her up from the inside. "I didn't want this. I never wanted to crush on anyone, it just freaking happened. I tried ignoring it but that just made these stinking feelings worse."

Lincoln simply nodded. "And that's why you were acting jumpy these past few days?" he asked rhetorically. Lynn also nodded.

The boy sighed. "Okay….I guess I understand that but why…why did this scare you specifically?"

Lynn groaned. "I told you for Pete's sake. This is all so….new and strange to me. I never felt like that about a boy."

"So you're saying you don't love me?" Lincoln managed to crack a joke to lighten the situation, only to receive a slug to his bicep for his troubles.

Lynn's brief look of mirth quickly disappeared and she looked into the distance again. "You know what I'm talking about." She grumbled. "Mom says that this will be the start of something beautiful, but I don't know what to think of it. It's just so strange and confusing."

Hearing her out, Lincoln took his time to respond to that. He initially didn't understand why Lynn was being so secretive about it, she was usually very bold and very shameless about whatever idea she had concocted in her head, no matter how crude and reckless it was. It was strange to see Lynn scared and timid about something, but her explanation shed some new light on it, all the courage in the world could fall apart when faced with a heavy dose of crippling doubt and uncertainty.

"Does Taylor….? Did you tell him about it?" he inquired.

"Yeah, I did." Lynn shrugged.

Lincoln grew weary hearing that; worried that Ryan was pressuring her into something. "And what did he say?"

"Big shock, he was quite thrilled. He also said that we shouldn't rush into anything so I can figure things out." Lynn explained, feeling much easier saying that than admitting about her own insecurities.

Lincoln was taken aback. He hadn't expected Ryan to be that reasonable. Was Lynn sugarcoating his side of the story? "No way." He quickly concluded. "Lynn never held back on calling him out on his crap, nor did she ever take any from it."

"Oh, so you don't know what to make of it?" he asked gently, Lynn just nodded. She felt a bit better getting this off her chest. Talking to Lincoln about it wasn't as scary as she thought it would be, she realized it was her own uncertainty was the true cause of her turmoil.

They sat there for a few moments in total silence as Lincoln took his time to contemplate. He couldn't put much input into this issue, as at the tender age of ten he knew squat about romance. He just saw it as something teens and grownups did, and whenever they were hit by Cupid's arrow they seemed to immediately embrace it, he had never heard of someone being scared and confused by it.

At the current moment, he himself wasn't quite sure what his stance of romance was. Until recently it was quite simple; girls have cooties. But currently, he wasn't quite sure, he had noted and admitted to himself that certain girls in his school were objectively pretty, and found himself paying more attention to the various girlfriends Ace Savvy had during his long comic run. He hadn't dwelled too hard on those kinds of things; he had very little reason to.

And from the look of things, neither had Lynn, who was the closest in age to him out of his sisters. But she was still older and perhaps unsurprisingly, was experiencing her first serious crush. Why Ryan Taylor was that first crush, he still didn't understand.

But he had a more pressing matter that he needed to resolve. "So I take it, Taylor isn't putting any pressure on you? But Luan is?"

"What about her?" Lynn asked curtly.

"That's what I wanted to talk about." Lincoln sighed. "I think it's quite obvious she's….smitten with him."

Lynn balled her fists. "I know, she's delusional…." She muttered venomously.

"Delusional? Lynn, you did see how Taylor was…." Lincoln paused to stop himself from vomiting in his mouth "….flirting with her."

He worried that Lynn would snap again, but she just glowered at him with tranquil fury. "He doesn't like her like that." She insisted. "He's just being stupid."

"So you think he likes you more?" Lincoln inquired.

Lynn looked at him incredulously. "Of course he likes me more! He only likes me!"

"But then why is he getting so friendly with Luan? The things I told you about last night are all true." Lincoln pointed out.

Lynn felt her blood boil. "Because he's a boy and he's being stupid!" She growled.

Lincoln felt like he should resent that remark but chose not to. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked evenly.

"Boys are weak-willed." Lynn huffed. "Their minds get all mushy the moment a girl bats her eyelashes at them. And that's what she's doing to Ryan."

"How exactly do you know that?" her brother questioned.

"I heard it from Lori, Leni and Luna." Lynn shrugged, still bitter thinking about Luan.

Lincoln grew a small smile. "Since when do you do girl talks?"

Lynn huffed again. "In your dreams! I just eavesdrop on them sometimes for shits and giggles."

"You spied on them?"

"You ain't the only one who knows how to use the air ducts." Lynn stated proudly. "Even I get bored with sports sometimes and try out a new thing."

"Did you spy on me?" Lincoln asked suspiciously.

Lynn smirked. "Don't flatter yourself. All you ever do in your room is read comics, so it's not like I find anything juicy or any blackmail material. Besides, what kind of a sicko would want to watch her baby brother while he's indecent?"

Lynn sniggered as Lincoln blushed madly.

"Okay, off topic." He spoke up. "So if Taylor likes you, Luan has to know that so we can put an end to this mindless jealousy."

"Pffft…..me? Jealous of her? What a load." Lynn scoffed.

Lincoln rolled his eyes. "Lynn, don't play games. We both know you don't do well when things don't go your way. You almost pummeled her for making you slip, remember?"

"So? Like you wouldn't have been pissed if someone screwed with you while you were performing an awesome stunt?" the jock retorted and crossed her arms.

"And you looked like you were going to burst the moment I mentioned Luan kissing Taylor." Lincoln continued. "Lynn, cut the crap. You know you're the jealous type."

Lynn narrowed her eyes. "I'm not jealous. I just can't stand people who try to steal what I've rightfully earned!"

Lincoln rubbed one of his temples. "Look, Lynn. This isn't about being jealous. It's about Luan. You do want her to stop coming on to Taylor, don't you?"

"Of course I do." Lynn lamented. "But she's too thick-headed to get the memo that Ryan's not interested in her. You think I haven't tried telling her that?"

"Of course not, Lucy says you two exchanged a lot of "harsh words"?" Lincoln replied.

"I did have some choice words for her." Lynn unashamedly admitted. "But it didn't do squat cuz she's delusional."

"You're not dating him and you keep insisting you don't want to." Lincoln countered. "How is she supposed to get the memo? Especially when your buddy is toying around with her because "all boys are weak-willed"?"

Lynn frowned frustratingly.

"Lynn, try looking at this from her perspective. You know she's carrying a lot of baggage. She's been shunned by her peers her whole life, and now she meets this one guy who's nice to her, of course she's gonna latch on to him."

"That's stupid! She's not Ryan's type, what do they even have in common?"

"They're both social outcasts, they both look weird, though him more so than her, and they both can't stop talking and making quips, and if I'm not mistaken, Taylor's also fond of practical jokes." Lincoln explained, amazed that he came up with all those similarities between the two of the top of his head.

Was there actually more to Ryan's interest in Luan than mindless lust?

Lynn shrank back, unwilling to admit that Lincoln had a point. "So what? Those are just peanuts." she spat bitterly. "I'm more like him than Luan could ever hope to be. She's too much of a girl!"

"You're missing my point, Lynn." Lincoln decided to stop beating around the bush, carefully phrasing his next response. "Eventually she'll realize that Taylor likes you more? How do you think Luan's gonna react to that?"

Lynn's face dropped, as realization dawned on her.

"She's going to be crushed. She's already infatuated with him, and the longer he strings her along the worse it's going to be when he inevitably breaks her heart." Lincoln explained with a serious expression.

His face softened. "C'mon, Lynn. Don't tell me this wouldn't weigh on your conscience? You used to protect her from bullies, she's family. Do you really want to let a boy get between you?"

Lynn's face likewise softened, as much as Luan aggravated her with both her insipid pranks and her flirting with Ryan, she was still her sister. As out of touch as Luan was, Lynn still didn't want to hurt her, at least not in that way.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked more calmly. "I already told her to buzz off, and she ignored me!"

Lincoln sighed. "I think there's only one solution. As I said, if you were just more open about….you know, she might get the message. I know you're scared and uncomfortable with this, but like I said, pretty much everyone, other than maybe dad, is already in the know, so you really have nothing to lose. Nothing's gonna change."

Lynn thought for a moment before sighing herself. "Y'know, Ryan told me the same thing, that it was futile to keep a lid about our….relationship." She supposed she was making things needlessly difficult, as uncomfortable as this was for her there was no point for this feeble pretense of denial. If Luan still wouldn't listen to reason after that, at least Lynn could rest knowing that this was no longer on her.

"Then why not just admit it? I'll have your back if anyone mocks you for it, for what little reassurance that's worth." Lincoln smiled. "I just asked you this because we both know we have bigger fish to fry, and this stuff will just cause needless friction."

Lynn let out a titter. "Friction is in no short supply with a family like ours. But you're right, bro, and thanks for the talk, I was being stupid." Lynn admitted.

"It's okay. I don't how I would have handled myself if I was in your situation." Lincoln smiled.

Lynn huffed. "What? You're saying you're into boys?" She followed it with a shudder.

Lincoln rolled his eyes. "I'm never gonna crush on anyone. It's obviously not worth all the turmoil."

"Yeah, right." Lynn snarked. "You won't be saying that in two years or so. Like I told ya, boys are slaves to the female's wiles, and you'll be no different. Sorry to break it to you."

"I'll be the judge of that. But Taylor said the same thing to me."

"And you should take that very seriously. He's a lot savvier than you give him credit for, plus he's been through the awkward prepubescent boy stuff you're going trough now. He knows."

"Lynn, can I ask you something else?" Lincoln said idly. Lynn just glanced at him. "What exactly do you see in that guy?"

Lynn grew a small wry smile. "Well for starters, he agreed to help us in our time of need without a second thought. And he took on a wolf once….twice….no, thrice to protect me."

And Lincoln immediately felt like an idiot for asking. But that didn't quite answer his question. Being grateful to someone for their assistance was one thing, tolerating their abrasive attitude was another. "I know, it's not like I'm not grateful for that but…." he begrudgingly admitted. "But I mean….ugh…" he grew flustered "…..what do you see in him on a day to day basis. I mean, he's…"

"An asshole? A douchebag? Full of himself? Talks too much? Finds something in everyone to mock relentlessly?" Lynn finished for him with a smirk.

"I prefer not to swear." Lincoln responded with a nod. Lynn chuckled. "He's all that, don't think I haven't noticed. But I think I already proved to you why he still has a heart underneath all of that."

"But why do you put up with him?"

"Because I like hanging out with him, I find him funny when doesn't badger me, he's also loyal and always helps me when I'm in a jam, and not just me. You know how he stink-bombed Kathleen's place after she humiliated Luan, and he also helped Lucy scare some kids that bullied her by dressing up as the Grim Reaper."

Starting to feel better, Lynn made a small titter. "But the thing I like the most about him is how tough he is. He has no problem sparring with me, has fun doing it and even his trash talking works me up, so I'm always at my A-game."

"So you like him because both of you are unruly, tough as nails, play rough and both of you have massive egos?" Lincoln concluded and pretended to shudder. "Yikes, this makes too much sense." He wasn't kidding though; he was actually starting to see why Ryan of all people would catch Lynn's eye. She wasn't an easy person to handle; most boys would probably find her roughhousing and braggart nature anything but attractive.

"I don't have an ego!" Lynn retorted loudly, but Lincoln wasn't scared.

"Huh? I never thought about it like that?" he contemplated, ignoring her outburst. "A tough girl like you would be a handful for most boys, I oughta know. I doubt most would last with you for very long, so it would take someone like Taylor to keep you in line."

"Take that back!" Lynn exclaimed and grabbed him in a headlock. Lincoln gasped but continued anyway.

"I think…." He finished jokingly "….I just found a whole new respect for him. And you just proved my point, Lynn."

Frowning, Lynn released him. She placed her hands on her hips. "So what? My options for a sparring partner are limited. I tried it with you, and you say you hated it."

"You're as strong as Hercules, while I have the collective strength of stick figure. It's not a fair match." Lincoln admitted evenly. "I'm sorry that I'm not a real man like Taylor. I'm a dork, and proud of it."

Lynn shook her head. How could you tease someone who willingly admitted their own shortcomings?

"Don't give me that crap." She snorted before growing a serious face. "You know, Lincoln. I really do miss those days, when we would play together. I mean, I know you only did it to make me happy and didn't really enjoy any of it, but I still sometimes long for those days. Even if I know it would be unfair of me to ask you to play with someone who's way out of your league."

Lincoln could see that she meant what she said, and he agreed. He and Lynn were polar opposites in many ways, but despite it, Lynn grew up feeling much closer to him than to any of their sisters, so it became increasingly hard for them to find ways to spend quality time together on something they equally enjoyed. He sucked at sports, and Lynn didn't care about comics and didn't have a clue on how to use a remote control.

"Lynn, you know I'd be more than happy to make some sacrifices so my sisters could be happy, but I think I'm justified for drawing the line at getting bruised, battered or suffering any fractures."

Lynn sent him a dirty glare. "Thanks a lot. Why don't ya remind me how I accidentally gave you a concussion when we played football in daycare while you're at it?"

Lincoln smiled. "That happened? I don't remember. I guess those "accidental" sports injuries became pretty samey to me after the twentieth one."

His sister rolled her eyes. "And to think I was starting to feel better."

"Lynn, c'mon, you know that's ancient history." Lincoln told her honestly. "Besides, haven't we just found something which allows us to spend quality time together; fixing our future?"

Lynn couldn't help but smile. "I guess you have a point."

She knew she had to respect her brother for who he was, not for who she wanted him to be. She had learned that lesson a long time ago. Ryan had filled the void Lincoln left behind when it came to an always available sparring partner, and this one was actually competent at sports and could keep up with her, his silver tongue aside. In a perfect world, some amalgamation between him and Ryan would be the ideal guy for her to hang out with. But one couldn't always have their cake and eat it, and needed to appreciate the things that they had.


"Would you care for. A cup of herbal tea, master?" Fenton returned to Lisa's room just in time to hear her scream and have a massive encyclopedia thrown into his face. He dropped the cup he was carrying, which shattered on the floor, as he was flung back into the hallway by the impact.

"It's hopeless!" Lisa lamented while pulling her hair. No matter what she tried, she couldn't get her mind away from last night's incident; especially her brother's parting words to her.

"Master. You seem to still be. In anguish." Fenton walked back in while screwing his head back into its proper position.

Lisa turned around sharply, sending him a vicious glare. "It only took you this long to figure it out, you useless bucket of bolts!"

Most people would have been shocked by such an outburst, but lucky for Fenton he was mechanical. "I was under the impression that letting you. Immerse yourself in your encyclopedia. On aerospace engendering. Would put your mind at ease."

"How can one's mind be at ease when you nearly caused the end of the world?" Lisa asked coldly.

"That concept is beyond my capacity. For comprehension. I was programmed to serve you. And assist you."

Lisa muttered under her breath. Fenton's response summarized why it was pointless to yell at him. He was just a simple A.I designed to obey her every command, not to engage in independent thinking.

"But perhaps an alternative course of action is required. To alleviate you of your distress."

"What alternative course of action?" she responded impatiently.

"I'm not qualified to advise you on the matter. Master." Fenton responded. "But perhaps you can figure it out?"

Lisa started to boil with frustration. "You think haven't spent all day trying to accomplish just that, you vacuously vapid vulpine!"

"Negative. But perhaps you have approached it. From the wrong perspective?" Fenton suggested.

"What do you believe to be. The root cause of. Your despondency?"

Okay, maybe Fenton was capable of some independent thinking. Lisa glanced down, trying to ponder clearly in her dejected state.

What was the cause of her sorrow? Nearly causing a zombie apocalypse, sure. She couldn't change that, she hadn't invented a time travel machine yet. This was something she would have to live with. And her brother hated her. Thinking about their last conversation hurt her to her very core. He loathed her now, and for just cause. That was something else she would have to resign herself to.

Lisa once again walked into a dead end. As Ryan so crudely put it, "she fucked up", and she would have to carry that burden until her body started deteriorating in old age and she drew her last breath. An event like this was not something a person could ever hope to forget until they reached an age ripe for dementia.

Her eyes started watering. "I nearly caused the end of the world, and my family. That's what." She said despondently.

"But you prevented it from coming into fruition."

Lisa tightened her fist with aggravation. Her robot viewed the whole incident with pure, cold logic.

"It's called guilt, you unavailing droid. My callous experimenting led to a near world-ending atrocity, all because I entrusted a bungler like you with a dangerous serum and I underestimated my sisters' idiocy, my actions were nothing short of reprehensible."

That's when the young genius fully admitted, not just to Fenton, but to herself what she deserved. "And I received no comeuppance for my deplorable actions. No one except for Lincoln and his vagabond friend is even aware of my wrongdoings. I deserve punishment, but first, you must be found guilty before you can receive a proper corporal punishment!" she hissed with frustration while fighting hot tears.

"And all evidence of my misdeeds has been eliminated."

"But only your caregivers have the authority to. Enact such a procedure." Fenton pointed out.

"Exactly, and both of them were absent for the duration of the incident." Lisa hissed aggravatingly.

"If you require self-incriminating evidence of. Last night's event. You could allow them to view. Your undisclosed security footage."

"What?" Lisa stared at him incredulously.

"If they dismiss the validity of your account based. Solely on your word. Security footage would palliate any form of skepticism."

Lisa froze. Why hadn't that obvious solution crossed her mind? She had the means to prove her guilt to her parents and let them be the judge of her fate in the wake of that revelation, and simultaneously quell Lincoln's accusation that she got away with her misdeed scott-free.

Lisa gulped with fear and uncertainty. The only question was, did she have the guts to do it?


And here I have come full circle. Almost a year ago I started this fic in July and now….it's July again, and I've amassed a 200,000+ word story that's still going. What a journey. This is yet another chapter that went into overtime, by which I mean I had to slice it two (or more precisely, I removed the last third of the unfinished product) because the amount of story I aim to pack into a single chapter always appears a lot smaller in theory than in practice. That's because I aim to have a few meaningful exchanges, revelations, turn of events or at least some funny one-liners appear in every one of them, so none will (hopefully) feel like drab filler. And some stuff defiantly happened here.

Of course, pretty much everyone including Lincoln being aware of the principal paring was always there and not some cockamamie "grand revelation", or the fact that Ryan's heart, big shock, truly belongs to the girl he spent more screen time with, but him and Lynn would both eventually have to realize that the obvious third wheel will be heart-broken upon inevitably learning that she was the third wheel, and neither would want that, since at the end of the day Ryan does care for Luan (despite unwittingly treating her like his sloppy seconds) and Lynn's petty antagonism towards her will only make things worse, and of course, given Lynn's impulsive nature, even after Lincoln set her straight her clingy jealousy could still make her act irrationally. And regardless under what circumstances this might happen, Ryan's gotten far too friendly with Luan for any sort of civil "break up" to happen between them. Either way, Luan's gonna suffer a severe "break the cutie". A lot of people hate love triangles for obvious reasons, when the third wheel is unsympathetic then such a plot thread is easily disposable, but when they are sympathetic and the main couple both have an emotional investment in the former, then things can get pretty messy.

And naturally, for an intuitive introvert like Lucy, it was only a matter of time before the pile-up of lies and odd behavior by the main trio was going to collapse under its own weight, and Lucy would cease being willfully ignorant and realize that something strange was happening.

And lastly, I hope I firmly gave s valid reason for why Lynn's been so indecisive about acting upon her crush and letting Luan get ideas. Simply put, she's a 12-year-old kid who doesn't know how to deal with her first crush and was even (at least initially) scared of it, of course not every kid will necessarily react with such uncertainty, as the marginally older Luan reacted in the exact opposite way XD And of course, one can't deny that Ryan had been stringing them along and letting their fighting over him stroke his ego, but then again he is a tweenage boy blinded by hormones who went from outcast to chick magnet in the blink of an eye. Eventually, however, he'll have to face the reality that toying with a girl's feelings while still genuinely caring about her will end really, really badly.